700 bottles on the retail floor, a tasting room run by a 12-time Wine Spectator veteran, and Sandy Springs' wine education headquarters
Sandy Springs · Atlanta · Wine Bar / Retail · Visit Website ↗
Updated September 2026
Reviewed February 22, 2026 · How we review
RagingWine reviewed The Savvy Cellars’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
The Savvy Cellars is not a restaurant. It is something better — a wine retail shop with over seven hundred bottles, a tasting room, and a weekly education program that treats Sandy Springs like a wine school with a pour license. The tasting den is managed by Richard, a veteran of Dick and Harry's who earned twelve Wine Spectator Awards of Excellence during his tenure at that legendary Roswell institution. When a twelve-time Wine Spectator winner is running your tasting room, the credentials are not in question. The format is unusual for a RagingWine review, but the impact on Sandy Springs wine culture is too important to leave off the list.
Seven hundred wines on the retail floor span the full global map — Old World and New, familiar producers and obscure natural bottlings, entry-level weeknight pours and cellar-worthy allocations. The shop functions as the discovery engine for Sandy Springs wine drinkers who have outgrown the grocery store aisle but are not ready for auction-house pricing. Weekly tastings rotate through themes, regions, and styles, and the periodic wine dinners bring producers or importers to the table for guided pairings. This is where Sandy Springs goes to learn how to drink better.
The tasting room format means by-the-glass works differently here than at a traditional restaurant. You are tasting rather than dining, and the pours are curated to educate as much as to enjoy. Weekly tasting events feature curated flights — typically four to six wines around a theme — at prices that make the value proposition difficult to argue with. If you want to try a Barolo, a Gruner Veltliner, and a Txakolina in the same evening without committing to three full bottles, this is the room built for exactly that exploration.
The weekly tasting flight — Event pricing varies
The best value at The Savvy Cellars is not a single bottle — it is showing up on tasting night, paying the event fee, and drinking four to six curated wines with expert commentary from a twelve-time Wine Spectator winner. Nowhere else in Sandy Springs offers that ratio of education to dollar.
The allocated and small-production bottles on the retail floor
Richard's deep industry connections mean The Savvy Cellars gets access to bottles that never hit the Total Wine shelf. Walk in and ask what just arrived from a small producer — the answer is always more interesting than whatever you planned to buy.
Walking in with a plan
Do not come in knowing exactly what you want. Come in knowing what you like and let the staff redirect you. The whole point of a shop this deep is discovery. If you wanted the same Cabernet you always buy, you would have gone to the grocery store.
Whatever the current tasting flight features + The charcuterie and cheese offered during tasting events
Tasting events frequently include light bites selected to complement the wines being poured. Let the pairing be handled for you — Richard has been building these experiences for decades and the man knows what he is doing.
The Bottom Line
The Savvy Cellars earns the Wild Card badge because nothing else in Sandy Springs looks like this. Seven hundred wines, a tasting room run by a Wine Spectator veteran, weekly education events, and a retail floor that functions as the neighborhood's wine discovery platform. It is not a restaurant and it does not pretend to be one. It is the reason Sandy Springs has a wine culture worth writing about.
Brookhaven · Atlanta · New American/Southern
Roc South is a genuinely fun restaurant — the food sounds great and the vibe is undeniable — but the wine program doesn't give us enough to work with or get excited about. Until there's a verifiable list with real producers and fair pricing, let the bartender guide your evening instead.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Atlanta · New American/Southern
Park 82 has a wine list in the same way a gas station has a wine selection — technically present, practically limiting. If you're a Pinot Noir devotee who doesn't mind paying restaurant markup for bottles you've seen at Kroger, you'll survive. Everyone else should probably lead with cocktails and ask what's on tap.
Grocery Store
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Atlanta · Asian
Tabla's wine list punches above its weight for an Asian restaurant in Atlanta. The white-heavy, aromatic-focused selection makes genuine sense with the food, pricing at the entry level is fair, and the BTG depth is real. We'd send a friend here for wine without hesitation — just order the Grüner first.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Atlanta · Other
MCK isn't trying to be a wine destination — it's a bar and restaurant with a list built for toasting and crowd comfort. The sparkling program punches above the list's weight, the by-the-glass selection is generous, and the markups on still wines are steep but not outrageous. Send a friend here if they want Champagne and something easy to sip; send them somewhere else if they're chasing a wine experience.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Atlanta · Gastropub/Tavern
Blue Moon Brewery & Grill is a beer bar first, second, and third — the wine list exists so your friend who doesn't drink beer doesn't feel stranded. If that's the situation, the Cava at $9 or the Elouan Rosé at $10 are perfectly fine. But if wine is the reason you're going out, go somewhere else.
Grocery Store
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Atlanta · Thai
Pink Lotus has built a wine list that takes its cues from the food — acid-forward, bubbles-heavy, and genuinely curious — which is more than most Thai spots in town bother to do. Markups are fair, the by-the-glass selection is wide, and there are real finds here if you look past the Dom Pérignon showpiece bottles at the top. If you're eating Thai in Atlanta and you want something interesting in your glass, this list deserves your attention.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Santa Barbara · Wine Bar / Retail
The Good Land is doing something genuinely useful: bringing a focused, deep-diving Central Coast bottle shop to Santa Barbara with prices that don't punish you for being curious. If you care about SRH Pinot, Paso Syrah, or just want to understand what California wine actually looks like at the producer level, this is a worthwhile stop. Go in with an open mind and a willingness to ask questions.
Surprising Depth
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown · Greenville · Wine Bar / Retail
Wine House brings curated retail wine and an un-stuffy bar atmosphere to downtown Greenville's Daniel Building in spring 2026. Grower Champagne, small Burgundy producers, and weekly tastings. The wine bar Greenville has been waiting for.
Solid Range
Fair
Stemless Casual
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Active Program
Proper
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.
List Variety
Markup
Glassware
Staff
Specials & Deals
Storage & Temp
